Olive Oil, The Backbone of Flavors for This Traditional Chicken, Bean, and Vegetable Soup

Chicken / November 6, 2023

I’ve been developing recipes for Olive This! for a long time now and have experimented with much of their product line. Turning out some fun menus. And I continue to be inspired by their quality, taste, and imaginative selection. But there’s something I believe the home cook is missing when learning how to use their product, and that was to take something familiar and use a key ingredient in a more intrinsic and foundational way. Let me explain.

I present this lovely chicken soup. This recipe may seem familiar, chicken soup always does. But in this case I have chosen a robust and fresh oil, the Olive This! Kalamata Extra Virgin Olive Oil and made it the “backbone” of the whole recipe; one that all other ingredients get their character from. If you want proof oil makes a difference, I would make the same soup with 4 different basic but different cooking oils because it is then you would taste the absolute difference in each one. Yes, even in chicken soup!

I submit that many of you choose a basic oil by thinking, “I want something mild, so the other flavors are not masked.” But I say, choose one that knows its identity, so that it imparts its essence throughout the entire dish and elevates everything. In this case I wanted a carrot to taste like the best carrot EVER. I wanted to encourage the aromatic base of the broth to sing with complexity by sweating the mirepoix (carrot, onion, and celery) in generous amounts of it! That’s what I’m working to showcase with this recipe.

How can chicken soup transcend our assumptions about flavor and recipe building? We tend to look at ingredients in a recipe as though they all have an equal job, lining up ingredients like dominoes. The fact of the matter is recipes are built by chemistry, not a checklist. Each element plays a role in building another element depending upon their role. And few things are more important than an oil because it emulsifies and creates a seamless introduction to a set of flavors. Resulting in an experience that feel curated, not thrown together.

How did it come together? I started with a really generous glug of the oil. Heated to shimmering in a stock pan. And then added the compensatory carrot, onion, and celery mixture; 1 cup of each. After sweating them I added 4 C of plain chicken stock, salt and pepper, oregano, coriander, and garlic salt. Then let it gently simmer with the lid on for about 20 minutes. From there I added 2 cans of Northern White Beans, with their liquid. And a small handful of fresh parsley. I let that come to heat fully and added 3 cups of pulled roasted chicken white meat, stirring the mixture only until the chicken is hot. At the end I added another huge drizzle of oil and served it in a deep bowl and a nice large spoon, with another flourish of parsley.

So danged sophisticated. So danged simple. So immensely unique. And so vital to your journey to becoming an intuitive and masterful cook!

Traditional Chicken, Bean, and Vegetable Soup with Kalamata EVOO

Familiar and Complex | Serves 6 – 8

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 C Olive This! Kalamata Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided

1 C sweet white onion, large dice

1 C celery, large dice

1 C carrot, large dice

4 C plain chicken stock (not unsalted)

½ t each of garlic salt, dried and crushed oregano leaves, coriander powder

1 t kosher salt (flakes, not fine)

½ t black pepper

2 cans Northern White Beans

½ C chopped fresh Italian leaf parsley

3 C shredded white meat from a rotisserie chicken

METHOD:

In a large stockpot heat 5 T Kalamata EVOO until shimmering. Add the onion, celery, and carrot. Stir and cook until onions are transparent. Add the 4 C stock, the seasonings, and the salt and pepper. Reduce heat and keep on a low bubbling simmer, cover and cook for 25 minutes.
Remove lid, add the 2 cans of white beans, with all the liquid in the can. Add about 3 T of the chopped parsley. Cook until the beans are as hot as the rest of the soup. Add the chicken and stir until hot. Do not boil it after you put in the chicken. Drizzle with a little more oil and serve.
To serve, place a serving in the bowl, add a bit of cracked pepper, a flourish of parsley, and a dotting of the oil. (You don’t have to use all the oil, but don’t be afraid to be generous! It is so vegetal, clean, fresh, and balanced. It will galvanize the purpose of the entire dish!